Growing up in Buffalo in the 70’s was generally depressing. Buffalo was a dilapidating steal belt city and part of what was called the rust bucket of the country. The infrastructure of the city was decaying in front of my eyes. The economy was very bleak as the five major US steal companies and the General Motor Plant laid people off an eventually closed along with most other core industries. The population in and around Buffalo actually shrank from when I was born consistently until after I left 21 years later. The weather was dismal. It seemed like it was either raining or snowing and was almost always cold. The sun would only occasionally be visible. The 70’s also represented a decline in the national economy as manufacturing began moving out of the country.
“The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world. ”
The 1970’s began with the US being in the Vietnam War and as a child it was difficult to understand how people could be so divided on their opinions toward it. I couldn’t understand how many people could treat the young men and women who went to serve so poorly even though many of them were drafted into service or how those who resisted and protested against the war were also so demonized. I struggled to form an opinion. As the decade continued our President was impeached in a process that took a long time and played out on television in front of everyone in the country. There was a pervasive sense of shame over this. Later in that decade the recession hit hard with double digit inflation and interest rates. Also, during this time there was civil rights unrest as prejudice was pervasive and people of all races and backgrounds fought for what little work there was. In Buffalo I saw firsthand the impact of racism although at the time I didn’t think much about it because I wasn’t the target. There seemed to be a pervasive negativity among the public and a lack of hope as opportunities were limited and attitudes seemed to match the dismal weather. As I look back at that culture I now recognize a lack of hope is the most severe condition that effects a society and how difficult it is to rise out of poverty and how a cycle of despair can start with joblessness and hunger as there becomes more and more unwanted people followed by civil disobedience and crime becoming what seems to be the only option for people. The companion for a lack of hope is anonymity as unwanted people get lost and left behind and many of the rest of us ignore their pain and suffering as we all become anonymous. To this day I don’t accept this ignorant negativity.